Shadows of the Night
by xtotalinsanity
Summary: A girl has gone missing, and no one knows where she has gone. How can her family and friends cope with her disappearance, and will anyone ever know what happened to Lizzie McGuire? Please RR!
1. Shadows

**Summary: **A girl has gone missing, and no one knows where she has gone. How can her family and friends cope with her disappearance, and will anyone ever know what happened to Lizzie McGuire?  
**Disclaimer: **I don't own anyone. 

**---**

Footsteps echoed down the street. Accustomed to customers trying to get in past closing time, she quickly pulled the bolt across and dragged the blinds down over the windows. Locking up the cash registers, she turned off the lights and stepped out the back door, pulling her coat on and shivering against the cold winter air. Sliding the key into her purse, she buttoned her coat and bent her head against the wind, making her way down the wet sidewalk towards where her car was parked. The sky was bright with the moon, stars dotting the dark blanket, illuminating her path, for the dimly lit street lamps were not much help. She felt the first drops of rain on her head and pulled her hood up, quickening her pace. Reaching her car, she began to pull her keys out of her purse when she heard footsteps again. Glancing around the car park, she saw not another car in sight. The footsteps stopped as she paused, and, frowning, she zipped her purse back up and put her keys into the lock. Breath was heavy on her neck and she swung herself around, purse raised in a defence mechanism. Her arm dropped to her side and her eyes widened.

"What are you doing here?" She asked in a surprised voice, a slight smile crossing her face.

It turned to terror as he struck her once, twice, and took her into the shadows.


	2. Something's amiss

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything apart from the random people that I have made up and the plotline.

**A/N: **Thanks for the reviews! 4 within the first day I post a fan fiction, that must be a record. : )

Silence ensued. Her head throbbed where he had hit her, and she tried to press a hand to her temple to ease the pain, but her hands remained firmly behind her back. The ache of her head took her a while to realise that thickly cut rope bound her wrists together, burning them. Struggling to get herself into a more comfortable position, for her legs were splayed awkwardly and her back was twisted, adding to the pain, she fell sideways, hitting her head hard on the wooden floor. For a moment she thought she was going to black out again, but blinking hard, she managed to stop herself, and instead concentrated on seeing something in the dark room. As her eyes adjusted to the night, she saw the outline of a bed, a closet – not her bedroom. His? She sat back up carefully, and then let out a startled cry as something moved across the room.

"You'd better not scream." He said warningly, his voice tinged with steel. "I don't like it when you scream." As suddenly as he had appeared, his voice softened, took on the caring note that she so recognised. "It hurts me to see you afraid."

_He's crazy_, she thought in shock, tears forming behind her eyelids. _He's gone mad_. "Please…" She whispered, begging, realising even as she spoke that her hoarse, shaking voice just made her sound pathetic. He let out a harsh laugh and moved towards her. She tried to back away, only connecting skin with wall. "Why are you doing this?" She steadied her voice as best she could, but the fear still filtered out. "What do you want?"

"I want you, Lizzie." He knelt down in front of her. "You hurt me, you know. You broke my heart. But I don't hate you. I could never hate you. I'll always love you, and I'm going to make sure that we will stay together. Forever."

He stood up and flicked a switch. Dim light appeared through a dusty bulb in the ceiling lamp. She gasped at the familiar face, so thin, gaunt… and his eyes. Crazed. Had she done that?

Through the window, she saw a car pass, the beams shining brightly into the room. Suddenly so terrified she couldn't think straight, she let out a scream, praying someone, anyone would hear her, wake her up from this nightmare.

His face closed over and he stepped back to her. "I don't like to hurt you." He told her coldly. "But that doesn't mean I won't. So shut up if you know what's best for you."

Trying to control herself, Lizzie closed her mouth, blinking away the tears. "What's happened to you?" She whispered. "Why – when did this happen?"

"Pay attention!" He yelled at her. "I told you. When you broke my heart."

She shook her head. "No. I know you. And that would never have made you do this. Something else has happened. Hasn't it?"

He struck her hard, and her neck snapped back, striking her head against the wall. Semi-conscious, she heard him walk away, but his soft words still travelled back to her.

"You all ruined my life, and I'm going to get it back, no matter what anyone says."

* * *

"Honey?" Jo knocked gently on her daughter's bedroom door. "You're going to be late for class." Receiving no answer, she smiled, knowing that Lizzie would still be buried deep under the covers, and pushed the door open. The bed was neatly made, blinds up, clothes still strewn across the bed and floor. Frowning, Jo glanced at her watch. _Lizzie must have left early_, she decided – though it was quite unlike the eighteen-year-old, she might have had an earlier class that Jo hadn't known about. Closing the door, she made her way down the stairs just as the doorbell rang. It was one of Lizzie's friends off her course – Terra Millen, a pretty redhead who only lived a few doors down with her boyfriend.

"Oh, hey, Mrs McGuire." Terra said cheerfully. "Lizzie not ready yet _again_?"

Jo frowned. "Lizzie's not here." She returned. "I thought she had an early lecture or something."

Terra shook her head. "Nope, only one now – although I still call this early! Stayed out all night again, huh?"

Concerned, Jo inclined her head slightly in a nod. Normally Lizzie let her know if she wasn't going to be returning home from work – even if she was an adult now, Lizzie had always understood her mother's worries for her. "I guess, although she hasn't called or anything." Jo glanced at the answer machine. No red light blinking.

Terra shrugged. "Try her cell."

Jo laughed. "Of course! It's a good job you're here, Terra."

"Well, I do try." The eighteen-year-old replied modestly, grinning as she stepped into the house and closed the door behind her. Jo speed-dialled Lizzie's cell phone number and then hung up instantly.

"It's turned off." She said disappointedly.

"Now that's weird." Terra grinned. "Lizzie _never_ turns her cell off. Well, I'd better get to class. She's probably gonna turn up there half an hour late as usual – crashed out at a friends or something. See you, Mrs McGuire."

"Bye, Terra." Jo said distractedly. Despite Lizzie's friend's calmness over the matter, her daughter had never crashed at a friend's without letting her mother know before, and always kept her cell phone on. Breathing heavily, Jo closed her eyes and leant against the wall, trying to block out the awful thoughts going through her head.


	3. When she fell

**A/N:** I'm not American, so apologies if anything is off (college/age/location stuff really) – it's all down to my own vague research. This chapter is mainly just background story stuff, I'll try not to make it too boring! Thanks for the reviews – and keep on R&R-ing!

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Whoop-de-do.

* * *

_They _didn't know. Jo McGuire hadn't realised. Through the endless days of police investigations, concerned phone calls and media knocking on her door, through the sleepless nights she had endured praying for her missing daughter, it had never entered her mind that they didn't know. And as she realised, sitting in the kitchen at 6 o'clock in the morning trying to revive herself over a gradually growing cold cup of coffee, she felt a bitter anger rising inside her.

Lizzie had been fifteen, and Matt eleven, when they had moved to Long Island. Jo remembered the devastated look on her daughter's face when they had told their children of Sam's job transfer. The thought of leaving Miranda and Gordo, her two fully-pledged best friends, the two people in the world that made her happiest, had struck Lizzie down.

Jo gave a wistful smile as she remembered how determined Lizzie had been to make the most of her last days with Miranda and Gordo. They were out every day 'til dark, continuous extended slumber parties for Lizzie and Miranda, constantly running up the phone bill for Jo and Sam spending hours talking to each other… but Jo didn't care, because she knew things were all soon about to change.

And she was right, only they changed a lot sooner than she had expected. Her mouth twisted into a bitter smile as her mind flickered back three years, to when her daughter had fallen…

"_I broke up with Gordo." Lizzie told Jo matter-of-factly, brushing her long blonde hair out of her face into a ponytail. Jo looked up, startled, very nearly dropping the china plates she had been packing into a box. If there was one couple she had expected to last, it had been Lizzie and Gordo._

"_Why?"_

_Lizzie shrugged, acting like she didn't care, but as she looked closer, Jo saw her daughter's eyes filled with unshed tears, her mouth quivering. Seeing her mother watching her, Lizzie turned away, biting on her lower lip hard to compose herself. "It wouldn't have worked." She said calmly. "We're moving – how ever many miles away it is, but still, it's a lot. Neither of us would be able to handle a long-distance relationship."_

"_Did Gordo feel the same?" Jo enquired, resisting the urge to hug her daughter tight and never let go. Lizzie shrugged again._

"_It didn't matter. He couldn't force me to have a relationship with him."_

_Jo knew there was a lot more to it than Lizzie was saying, but knew better to pry. "Lizzie…" She said softly, and Lizzie dissolved at her mother's tone. Turning, the tears running down her cheeks, she let herself fall into Jo's arms._

"_I think I did the wrong thing, Mom." She sobbed. "He said.. he said that if I was going to let a little thing like distance affect us, then maybe I wasn't worth it. But how could it have? Neither of us can drive. How can – how can we trust each other from so far away?"_

_Jo rocked her daughter gently, unable to say anything that would help, that would mend a broken heart._

"_Hey, how about I live with Miranda." Lizzie suddenly said brightly, pulling away and wiping her wet cheeks. "Just 'til I'm eighteen. Then I can get a place of my own."_

_Jo closed her eyes briefly. Lizzie faltered. "Sorry. Sorry. I don't want to leave you, Dad… hell, even Matt… but I've never lived without Gordo before either. I don't know how to. And I'm scared."_

Jo poured the rest of her coffee down the sink and rested her head in her hands, trying to fight back the familiar tears. The phone calls had continued, but they were different ones now. Sobs down the phone to Miranda. Fights down the phone to Gordo. It had scared Jo. Her daughter had never had a proper relationship before Gordo, and now that it was over, she wasn't eating, she had grown edgy and snapped at anything, and her bubbly personality had long gone.

And suddenly, Jo couldn't remember when she had seen Lizzie as happy as she had been with Gordo and Miranda.

It just wasn't the same.

She was aching all over. Her back was sore from the awkward position she had been half-lying, half-sitting in. Her legs had permanent cramps, and the irritating prickling sensation hadn't left her hands and feet for what felt like days. Wriggling around, trying to get rid of the cramp, she resorted to banging her legs against the floor, furious at him for leaving her like this.

"Shut the hell up!" He was glaring at her from the doorway. "What are you doing?"

"Cramp." She glared back at him. "And I'm not going to quit it until you take these bloody ropes off me and let me walk around."

He snorted. "Not likely."

"Like I'm going to do anything, anyway." She bit back at him. "I have no clue where I am. And we both know that I'm not exactly the strongest of people. So you have the upper-hand – I won't try anything, but I'll keep making a noise until you take _these things off_."

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "You always were the most stubborn of people, Lizzie McGuire." He muttered as he bent down and undid the tightly knotted ropes on her wrists held behind her back. Cracking a faint smile, she arched her back as she climbed to her feet and stretched her arms high above her. Her bones ached and creaked in protest, but the cramp was already dissipating. And as she paced back and forth across the room, trying to get the blood flowing in her legs again, she noticed he was watching her with a broad smile across his face – the smile that had made her heart melt.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just… I've missed you." He said softly.

"There were other ways to tell me that aside from kidnapping me, you know." Lizzie retorted dryly. He shook his head.

"We were over, and you wouldn't have listened to what I had to say. This way – we can be together forever."

"You're crazy." She told him, sitting down on the bed and rubbing her sore head. He sat down next to her, and she slid away self-consciously. "You've – you've lost it, seriously. You need help."

"I don't need _help_!" He bellowed at her. "I need you." His eyes filled with sudden tears. "All I need is you."


	4. Free

Humming cheerfully to herself, Miranda Sanchez pushed open the door to the coffee place that she and her boyfriend regularly had cappuccinos at before their classes, and instantly spotted him on their usual couch in the corner of the shop. Sauntering over, she leant down to give him a kiss then stopped in surprise when he carefully avoided her clumsily aimed mouth, looking distinctly uncomfortable. Sliding down opposite him, she crossed her arms and gave him her best frown.

"Okay, what's wrong?"

"We need to talk." He muttered, staring into his coffee cup with great concentration. She sighed heavily, already predicting where this would go. He would accuse her, they would get into a huge argument and make up in true teenager-style by the end of the day. It was getting quite old.

"What about?"

He put his cup down and looked her in the eye for the first time that day. There was something unreadable in his expression, but she knew that she didn't like the look at all.

"I think we should break up." His voice, in risen tones, carried across the coffee shop and Miranda winced as several of her classmates looked across at her in sympathy. Trying desperately hard to ignore the stares, she returned his stare.

"Why?"

"I don't need you anymore." He said casually. "And we both know that you're still cheating on me. I saw you with him last night."

"What do you mean, you don't _need_ me anymore?" She demanded. "Okay, so I'm still seeing him. It never bothered with you before."

"No, but now it's an incentive to break up with you. If anyone asks, that's why we've broken up, okay?"

She stared at him in confusion. "Then… why _are_ we breaking up?"

He shrugged. "I told you. I don't need you anymore. You've been cheating on me, and I've been using you. I've been writing to her and speaking on the phone to her, you know, letting her know all that's going on between us. I thought it would make her jealous and realise what a mistake she made." He looked wistful. "She was too late, the poor girl."

"What the hell are you on about?" Miranda exclaimed. "What girl? Are you talking about _Lizzie_? Lizzie McGuire, from junior high?"

"Indeed." Gordo said cheerfully. "Sorry to disappoint, Miranda, but I never loved you. I never stopped loving Lizzie, and I thought that being with you would make her realise that I'm actually too good to pass up."

"You're an arrogant twat." Miranda told him furiously. "But it's okay. I'm not too distraught, considering you're too cold-hearted to ever be loved. I don't know why I put up with you this long, actually."

"The sex, my dear." He smiled. "I know that, you don't need to pretend. I'm sorry we can't do it anymore. But I'm sure you're glad that you can go about with this guy in public now. You love him, don't you?"

"Yes, I do." She stared at him through dry eyes. "He is everything that you're not. What suddenly possessed you to break up with me, anyway?"

"She's gone." He put a pitiful expression onto his face. "Terrible, really. I got a phone call from her mother last night – she was kidnapped a week ago. I don't think we'll ever hear from her again. Shame, really."

Miranda felt her body stiffen in shock. "Lizzie? Kidnapped?"

"Yes. She really ought to have been more careful, walking about the streets at midnight."

Tears stung at her eyes as she recalled the quirky blonde she had been best friends with for so long, the girl she hadn't spoken to in two years. They had tried the phone calls and letters at first, but Lizzie and Miranda had both found new friends, new lives, and the letters grew from once a week to once a month to finally, never.

"I can't believe it." She whispered. "Lizzie… oh God." Blurred vision from the tears in her eyes, she stared at Gordo. "Why are you so – normal? I thought you loved her? You just _said_ you loved her."

"Oh, I did. I do." He raised his hands upwards. "But who knows where she is now. Like I said, we'll probably never hear from her again, so I guess I got to get over it."

She wiped the tears from her cheeks. "You really are dead inside, you know." She informed him in a choked voice. He gave her a wry grin and said nothing. "I'm glad to be out of this emotionless relationship." Miranda added, sobs hurting her throat, as she got to her feet and grabbed for her purse. "Have a nice life, loser."

He stretched his arms above his head and grinned at the ceiling as the door slammed behind his ex-girlfriend. Finally. Free.


End file.
